By Matters India Reporter

Bengaluru, May 22, 2020: The Claretian congregation has replaced its Bangalore provincial with a Vatican official as the delegate of the superior general.

According to the website of the Claretian Missionaries (Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary or Cordis Marie Filii), the decision to replace Father Jacob Arakkal with the delegate was taken on May 16 by the congregation’s Rome-based General Government.

The congregation’s superior general and his team accepted the resignation of Father Arakkal for undisclosed reasons.

The general and his council then appointed Father Jose Koonamparampil as the “Delegate of Superior General” with powers to animate the province and prepare for the provincial chapter in December 2020.

Father Koonamparampil, a Claretian, has been serving in the Vatican office of the Sacred Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples for the past 20 years. He took over the office of the delegate on May 18 at a function in the congregation’s General Curia in Rome.

The council also allowed the current consulters of the Bangalore province to continue in their offices until the next provincial chapter.

None in the congregation was willing to explain the reason for removing Father Arakkal before the end of his term as the provincial. However, a source close to the congregation in India told Matters India that lack of transparency in the sale of the province land might have led to his ouster.

“It was not like a scam on money, but like concealing some information such as documents with the buyer or something like that. I am not sure,” he added.

The congregation founded on July 16, 1849, by Saint Antonio Mary Claret and five young priests in Spain’s Vic town.

The congregation has four provinces and one provincial delegate in India with more than 500 priest members. Globally, the congregation has around 3,000 members.

The current superior general is Father Mathew Vattamattam, the first Indian to hold the post. The congregation marks 50th year of its presence in India this year.

Its main apostolate is to work in the periphery of society for social upliftment of the poor. A major target group of the congregation in India is the tribal people. It is also engaged in disaster management and work among HIV/AIDS people and victims of substance abuse.